They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:26-39
“We must look at the reaction of two sets of people. There were the Gerasenes. They asked Jesus to go away.
“They hated having the routine of their life disturbed. Life went peacefully on till there arrived this disturbing Jesus; and they hated him. More people hate Jesus because he disturbs them than for any other reason…
They loved their swine more than they valued the soul of a man. One of life’s supreme dangers is to value things more than persons. That is what created slums and vicious working conditions.
Nearer home, that is what makes us selfishly demand our ease and comfort even if it means that someone who is tired has to slave for us. No thing in this world can ever be as important as a person.
There was the man who was cured.
Very naturally he wanted to come with Jesus but Jesus sent him home…It is a challenge in which God says, “Go and tell the people you meet every day what I have done for you.”
William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke (TDSBS; Philadelphia; Westminster Press, 1975) 108-109.
The Gerasenes communicated that they valued their privacy and their possessions more than a person. It’s easy to point a finger at them. Instead we should look at our own lives.
Do we tell people every day what God has done for us or do we act indifferent and keep silent. When was the last time you told a God story like the man who was cured? Or does your spending show you value possessions rather than people?
I am overjoyed at how God worked in Guatemala and Honduras over the past week. I am heading home today. Want a copy of our trip reports in which we proclaim all God did for us?
Like a tide rises all boats, when our GTP program work with churches and ministries in countries goes well, they flourish and grow. Their impact rises. They have God stories to tell and we share them too!
If you want to partner with GTP and invest in persons rather than holding onto resources with privacy or spending them on possessions, now is a time to make a gift for one of three efforts.
We are sending a $10,000 matching gift soon to ICCSA in Indonesia and a $10,000 matching gift to CONFIABLE in Guatemala for building capacity for helping churches and ministries follow standards.
We are claiming Gerasene territory for God. Indonesia is the largest Muslim population nation in the world. Guatemala has been riddled with corruption for years. God’s writing a new story in these places.
And we got a $40,000 matching gift for helping us deploy staff to do global program work in underserved countries. We’ve only received about $5,000 so far. Please pray for the funds in all these areas and give here as God leads. Thanks.
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